A Rustic Winter Table Centerpiece Using Spiced Orange Pomanders

What does Winter smell like to you? For me it's a little smoke in the air from the fireplace, something sweet baking in the oven, and spices like cloves, cinnamon, and ginger. Cloves were one of my Grandma's favorite scents and flavors and during the winter she made pomanders, oranges with cloves stuck in them. They smell amazing. They smell like Winter. 

Now they are one of mine and my kids' favorite crafts to make together and we do it every Winter. Traditionally they have beautiful swirling patterns, sometimes very intricate. I like to make patterns, but I just let the kids go for it. 

Supplies you will need: 

Oranges

Cloves (about 1 bag for every two oranges)

Star Anise, straight pins or hot glue (Optional)

This year we also used some of Grandma's buttons from her sewing chest that I inherited. I just happened to find them in an old Sucrets tin that I opened to find pins to attach the star anise. Usually we just use cloves but this year I thought I'd spice it up a bit (hee hee) and add them into the mix.

And my suggestion for finding the cheapest spices to use for this project? Check the International aisle at your grocery store. This bag was only $0.64! We use about half of a bag for each orange, depending on the pattern we choose. 

So to make the pomanders, insert the cloves into the oranges in the pattern you want. If the orange skin is a little touch and you find the cloves breaking, use the tip of scissors to make a small hole to stick the clove into.

So after you have your oranges all cloved up, you can leave them as is and they will last a week or two before getting moldy. But a few years ago I discovered that if I microwave each one at 20 second increments until they begin to dry out, they just eventually dry out and do not become moldy. (Of course if you use metal pins to hold the star anise on, do not put them in the microwave.) I still have some left from last year that are in good shape. Just make sure you keep them exposed to air. I made the mistake of leaving some in a closed container and they turned into a puddle of black goo.

I'm hosting a dinner party this weekend so I'm using my pomanders to make table center pieces with some greenery and pine cones from the yard and $0.64 worth of cinnamon sticks. I used a wooden box I already had, but this would also be beautiful in a white bowl. If you need some the arrangement to be taller, you can use wadded up paper towels or grocery store bags under the items to raise them up and give it some extra height. 

So there you have my Rustic Orange Pomander Table Center Piece. I hope you get a chance to make one too!